Chara
by EmeraldShine13
Summary: *SPOILERS (ALL ROUTES)* Chara is a mysterious character. She never had much information about her revealed in the game. This fanfic brings to light a possible backstory for Chara - one with her village, the people she interacted with...and the events leading up to her climbing Mt. Ebbot. *RATED T FOR VIOLENCE, MATURE LANGUAGE, AND SUICIDAL THOUGHTS*
1. Chapter 1: Off To A Terrible Start

_This story is not complete. If you think the ending isn't satisfying_ _, that's because it's not supposed to be._

 _Anything written in [brackets] is a note made by me. It might be a fact that I would like you to know, such as the origins of a certain detail (i.e., Bloodstone's name), or it could just be a comment I have on something (such as flowers not having the ability to hurt you). Feel free to ignore them, they're not crucial to the story._

 **Chara**

An Undertale fanfic by Emerald Shine

 **Chapter 1**

Chara awoke to the sounds of shouting.

 _Oh, great_ , she sighed. _It's Celebration Day._

Knowing it was futile to try and drown out the screams and the sun – the horrifying, burning, bright sun – Chara decided to rise. Just like that stupid sun. Always ruining her sweet dreams. She wished she could have just _one_ night where she could finish her [bloody] dreams.

 _[You could take that two ways. Both are correct.]_

The girl placed her feet on the wooden floor, cold against her bare soles. She trudged over to her small closet and took a random sweater off its hanger. It didn't really matter which one she took - they were all the same.

She got dressed and went to her window, pushing aside the curtains the tiniest bit in order to see outside better. In the morning light, children of all ages were running around on the dirt road while adults watched from porches. Chara didn't understand why children loved being so energetic. And loud. The ideal day for Chara would be nice alone time for meditation and throwing practice. Knife throwing practice, that is.

Knives. _Speaking of knives…_ , Chara thought, her eyes slipping back to the direction of her bed. She walked over to her small but effective bedside table. Upon opening a drawer, Bloodstone was revealed.

Freshly sharpened, [Bloodstone was the most devastating, most cruel, most practical, and most beautiful knife] Chara had ever seen. She had many memories of Bloodstone: finding him in the kitchen; throwing him at trees until they had scars; sharpening him with rocks; and even leaving some, er, _gifts_ from the woods on her neighbors' doorsteps.

 _[Yes, she named her knife. Credit to my friend and her own fanfic.]_

Suddenly sensing pain in her finger, Chara snapped out of her thoughts. She had subconsciously, but lovingly, run her finger along her knife and accidentally cut herself.

She put Bloodstone back in his drawer and went to the kitchen to get a healing spell from her mother - but not before drawing her curtains shut. She didn't need anymore sunlight poisoning her room.

* * *

As Chara entered the kitchen, she was greeted by a shower of golden flowers. She screeched, batting them away as if they were hornets.

"Chara, Chara! Calm down!" came the soothing voice of her mother. ["They're just flowers! They're not going to hurt you!"]

 _[And as I write this, I'm cracking up. XD]_

Chara gave her mother a disgusted look. "Ugh." And with that, she stalked away.

 _Ugh. Mother. I don't need any more cheer in my life; I have enough without Celebration Days, especially the Festival of Buttercups._

Chara grabbed a small bowl of fruit her mother had put on the table for her and sulked past the woman, forgetting all about the healing potion.

The emo, introverted girl went outside into the devastatingly bright sun. Chara sat on the stone steps in front of her house, her head down in order to not attract attention, especially from a certain somebody.

But it was useless.

"*GASP!* I LOVE your sweater today, Chara! Nice choice!"

Chara screamed again in surprise, nearly spilling her bowl of fruit as she started. "Ugh," she began eloquently. "[Genede], how many times have I told you NOT to do that?"

 _[Western Frisian word for "mercy" (according to Google Translate)]_

Genede, the girl who had quite literally and suddenly popped up beside Chara, smiled sheepishly as she sat down next to her.

"Sorry, Chara! I just LOVE your sweater. It looks so nice!"

Chara stared at Genede. "It's literally the same as all my other sweaters. They're all green and yellow stripes."

Genede chuckled with more cheerfulness than Chara in an empty room. "You're so funny, Chara!" She pushed the other girl jokingly. Chara was not amused.

She sighed. "What do you want, Genede?"

Even though Genede was one of the most sickeningly nicest people in the village, Chara hated her guts. Well, "hated her guts" is actually quite a strong term, even for Chara; she didn't quite "hate her guts" - she was just really peeved off whenever she came near.

Chara heard Genede talking and thought it would be rude not to pretend she was listening - but she ended up finding actually listening anyway. Imagine that, Chara listening to a person when they talk! Even if it was only for a short time, it was going in the record books!

"Well, I was wondering if you wanted to go to the celebration with me. I mean, it's one of the most important events of the cycle, and we _always_ go every cycle, and I just thought…"

Chara tuned out as she noticed how genuine Genede's smile was. Chara shook her head, trying to rid that realization from her mind. Much as she hated to admit it, she actually liked Genede a little bit. She wasn't even sure whether those feelings were romantic or not, but whatever they were, Chara did NOT like to think about them. ...Especially when she considered that Genede was her only and best friend..

Genede saw Chara shake her head. "What do you mean, 'no?' Of course you're going! Come on!"

And suddenly Chara was whisked away from her thoughts and towards the uncomfortably large crowd of people forming near the heart of their town.

* * *

 _Chapter Two is in the works! I'm going to be busy for the next few days, but I'll try to have the story updated by the end of the week!_


	2. Chapter 2: Peace, Love, Violence, Hatred

**Chara**

 **Chapter 2**

 _I'M NOT ENTIRELY SURE, BUT I THINK I NEED TO PUT UP A TRIGGER WARNING FOR THIS CHAPTER, SO._

 ** _*TRIGGER WARNING! PLEASE DON'T READ IF YOU ARE DISTRESSED BY VIOLENCE AND/OR SUICIDE*_**

 _I'll gladly summarize the chapter for you if you have to skip it, just tell me._

 _Just a warning, guys, this is going to be a much longer chapter with a lot of quick escalation and darker themes. Keep in mind I changed the rating because I felt it would suit an older (hopefully more mature) audience better. There isn't an incredible amount of_ _violence in this chapter, but if you want nothing to do with blood, injuries, or death/suicide, I'll put up a warning every time something related comes up._

 _…I just realized how many warnings I have to put up._

* * *

"I am glad you all are so eager to celebrate the Festival of Buttercups this year!"

"Not all of us," Chara grumbled under her breath.

Most of the village was circled around a woman (who happened to be Chara's aunt and the coordinator of every Celebration Day in the cycle) and a small child years younger than Chara and Genede (no relation to the two).

Chara's aunt continued cheerfully, "As always, we will be trading our golden flower products, such as tea, oils, and even some creative artwork made by the children of our village!"

Next to the woman, the grinning child proudly held up a picture of a golden flower they had drawn.

 _By God, that is an incredibly poorly drawn picture!_ Chara sneered and almost recoiled in distaste.

Genede, however, had an opposing view. "That looks AMAZING, [Freider]! Great work!"

 _[Pronounced "fray-der"]_

The other villagers agreed and applauded Freider for their drawing, while Chara merely rolled her eyes in disgust.

 _How can they support such a terrible artist?_ she wondered, aghast. _It's clear that the child has no skill whatsoever!_

Chara felt a jab in her side and saw Genede giving her a look that clearly meant she wanted her to clap. Chara sighed, but clapped sarcastically anyway.

After a few more announcements from Chara's _dear Aunt Sunshine_ , the crowd dispersed to participate in the many festival activities.

"So what do you wanna do first, Chara?" Genede began excitedly. "I was thinking we could go see some more of the children's _beautiful_ artwork-!"

"Actually," Chara turned to face Genede, grinning mischievously, "I have another idea."

Genede's smile faded. "Oh no. What is it this time?"

"Wait here." Chara ran back to her house to grab something.

* * *

"Why are we here?" Genede asked as she followed her friend through the woods.

"Because," Chara responded, cutting through the shrubbery around them and forming a makeshift path to their destination, "I wanted to show you...this."

Chara pushed through the last bushes blocking their path, Genede close behind. The former spread her arm, showing off the clearing in front of them.

It was a small space ringed with trees of deep green foliage. But the part that made Genede gasp was the golden flowers that covered the ground beneath their feet. Genede looked around and discovered that there were no other golden flowers in the surrounding area - it was as if every buttercup in a half-mile radius had teleported to this very spot. It was a beautiful and bright yellow sight.

And then she noticed Chara holding a knife, trying to slice the flowers' stems.

"Chara! What are you doing?!"

Chara paused, looking up at her companion. "...I'm picking flowers. What does it look like I'm doing?"

"You can't go ruining places like this! They need to be left alone!"

"You _do_ realize that saying I can't do something makes me want to do it more, right?"

Genede sighed - and then made the worst mistake of her life.

"Alright, just give me the knife," she said, reaching toward Chara.

Chara went wide-eyed and immediately jumped up and away from her supposed friend. " _What do you think you're doing?!_ " she yelled accusingly.

Genede froze, alarmed by the other girl's actions. "I- I just wanted to take the knife away from you—"

" _What?_ Why?!" Chara shouted, holding Bloodstone protectively behind her back.

"Well, I didn't want you picking any more flowers!"

"Genede, you of all people should know that the village is running short on their supply of golden flowers!"

"Yeah, and you of all people should have no care in the world about it!"

 **[*WARNING: SOME NOT SO SUBTLY VIOLENT INTENTIONS*]**

Chara wavered. It was true, but she couldn't admit that without losing the argument. Chara honestly had no good excuse for wanting to pick the golden flowers. She wasn't doing it for anyone else – she didn't care about anybody enough to do anything like that; she wasn't doing it for herself – well, not exactly, anyway. Chara was doing it for the thrill of it. The flowers may not have been "alive," so to speak, but [Chara always got a rush from ending something's life.]

 _[Remember the "gifts" that Chara would leave on people's doorsteps? Yeah._

 _And let's just say they weren't flowers.]_

 **[ALRIGHT, YOU'RE GOOD NOW]**

"Chara," Genede murmured, "what's gotten into you?" The kindhearted girl was accustomed to Chara's violent habits, but this outburst was entirely new to her.

Her [edgy] partner faltered again, searching for anything to say. Finding nothing, she began to back away. If she couldn't say anything useful, what was the point of being in the argument?

 _[Don't.]_

"Chara.."

She turned and started to run.

"Chara, wait!"

What happened next, Chara blamed on her apprehensiveness. She never would have done it had she not felt cornered.

It wasn't her fault.

...It was an accident.

She could hear Genede chasing after her.

"Chara! Stop! This is ridiculous!"

 _I know it is_ , Chara thought in despair. _But I'm not exactly thinking straight now, am I?_

"Why are you running?!" Her voice sounded much closer now.

 **[*WARNING: ACTUAL VIOLENCE*]**

Chara felt a hand on her shoulder. Instinctively feeling attacked, she spun around and slashed Bloodstone.

She heard Genede scream.

She gasped and nearly dropped the knife in shock.

Genede was on her knees, clutching at her arm. Chara had ripped open her sweater and cut her bicep. Thankfully, it didn't look like a deep injury…but then again, she could be wrong.

 **[IT'S FINE, YOU CAN KEEP READING]**

 _Oh my God. What have I done. Did I just—_

Chara stood there breathless for a few moments, realizing what she'd done.

And then she ran.

She turned and ran through the forest, pushing through the branches and bushes, trying to distance herself from her former only and best friend as much as possible. She knew the consequences of what just happened would be dire, even if it _was_ an accident. If she returned to the village, she would definitely be punished. Probably banished…

 _Snap out of it!_ she scolded herself. _You may have hurt her, but you didn't kill her! She'll be fi—_

 **[*WARNING: IMPLICATIONS OF DEATH*]**

Chara stopped suddenly. With a pang of fear and guilt, she realized that Genede probably had no idea how to get back home. If the gash really was that bad, and she lost enough blood… Best case scenario, she would just be too woozy to find her way right now. Chara hoped to God that Genede could make her way back to the village.

 **[YOU CAN PROBABLY HANDLE THIS NEXT SENTENCE]**

A faint voice weak with pain called out through the trees: "Chara! Come back!"

 _Oh God._ Chara fled once more.

* * *

She wasn't sure how long she ran, but when she finally stopped, she could see the village in the distance, at least a couple miles away. The kids were still running in the dirt road. Adults were still watching from porches. All were oblivious.

She looked around her and discovered she was standing on a tree-scattered mountainside. _This must be Mount Ebott_ , Chara thought. She recalled her father telling her about the land around the village when she was young.

 _Gosh. That was so long ago._ Chara must have only been five or six when Father had taken her out here to show off the view.

Chara did something she'd never done before: teared up.

Chara missed her father. She wanted to see him again.

 _Pull yourself together!_ the tough side, the [ _right_ ] side of her demanded. _You're better than this! You don't need to depend on people! Forget about your dad! Forget about Genede! What you did to her was bad, but who cares if you ruined your relationship with her! You never cared about her anyway!_

 _[As in correct.]_

Chara sniffed. "You're right," [she said to herself.] "I don't need anyone. I can live alone."

 _[Literally.]_

Her head down in stern decision, she kept walking. She walked for another hour or so, continuing on her path straight up the mountain.

Suddenly, her foot missed the ground, dipping into the humongous mouth of Mount Ebott. She yelped and quickly regained her footing, barely avoiding falling into the chasm.

Chara stared at the hole, catching her breath. Her heartbeat sped up once more.

The drop was horrifyingly deep. She could barely make out the bottoms of the columns ringing the crater. If she had fallen, she probably wouldn't have survived the landing.

 **[*WARNING: HERE COMES THE SUICIDAL PART.*]**

...

 _Why not?_ she asked herself. _It's not like you have any place to go or anybody to take care of you. You're going to die out here anyway._

 _..._

 _Besides,_

 _you might see Dad again._

She couldn't argue with her reasoning.

She was going to die if she stayed out here in the open, so why not end it sooner?

She found no answer.

Closing her eyes, gripping Bloodstone, and exhaling...she stepped forward.

* * *

The wind screamed in her ears.

Her stomach was so filled with butterflies, she figured if she threw up, actual butterflies would come out.

She was intensely aware of the texture of Bloodstone's handle as she held him in a [death grip].

 _[I swear that was unintentional]_

Eyes and mouth squeezed shut, she automatically braced for impact.

Her body exploded with pain and everything went dark.

* * *

 _Like I warned, that escalated_ really _quickly! Please tell me if you think the mature themes were too much - I will definitely edit the chapter to make it more suitable._

 _This will likely be the darkest chapter in the story (yes, there are more chapters to come!), so don't expect this level of violence to continuously appear. (Other than Chara's murderous intentions, because I can't write for Chara without including those.)_

 _Chapter Three will be a short one. It should be out by the end of the weekend (Sunday night for me)._

 _That being said, I'm Emerald Shine and I'll see you in the next story!_


	3. Update

_Hey, guys, I know I said the new chapter would be out like two days ago but I've been really busy/distracted lately. I'll do my best to post it in the next couple of days!_


	4. Chapter 3: Memories

_Hey guys, I'm so sorry this took so long, and I'm sorry to leave you on a cliffhanger! (No pun intended.) (See what I did there? No? ...Nevermind.) Anyway, school started and then I just lost track of this story. I'll do my best to write as often as I can (given that I have inspiration). Anyway, enjoy Chapter Three!_

 **Chara**

 **Chapter 3**

Chara's father was a good man. He smiled most of the time, told horrible but hilarious jokes, and always wanted Chara to be in a good mood. Way back when, Chara didn't actually mind the idea of being happy, being around others.

Chara loved her father more than anyone else she knew.

She was no more than seven when he had gone off to fight in the war.

Another cycle before he was killed by those monsters.

Two cycles of solitude, pity, forced smiles pretending nothing ever happened.

Her mother didn't need a constant reminder of the effect of her husband's death.

Chara didn't need all of this stupid pity, constant reassurances that everything would be fine – she didn't care. Her father's death had just shaped her into what she was today.

* * *

A few moons before Father was killed, Chara had found a knife on the kitchen counter. With nobody looking, she decided to take it. She went out into the woods to figure out something to do with it. Taking one look around her, she realized her only good target would have to be a tree - and so she threw her knife at one of them. Surprisingly, the weapon stuck.

As the young girl went to retrieve her knife, she heard a voice behind her: "That was a nice throw there, Chara!"

Chara flinched and spun around. _Crap._ Someone had caught her with a knife. _Wait until Mom and Dad hear about this._

To her surprise, however, the voice belonged to none other than her father. He must have seen the look of shock on her face because he said, "I saw you grab a knife and head out here, and I wanted to see what you were up to. Now that I know you're practicing some knife-throwing, mind if I teach you? Or, shall I say... _sharpen_ your skills?"

He winked at Chara, who rolled her eyes but smiled. "As long as you don't make any more puns."

"I'll do my best," Father responded, hands up in defense.

And so the lessons began. Almost daily, Chara and her father would go out into the woods a good ways away from their house. (Mother would have gone mad if she had known Chara was playing with knives.) Father would teach her how to defend herself, and Chara would finish her lesson feeling accomplished and proud of herself - partially for being able to do what her father had taught her, and partially for gaining praise from him. After all, who wouldn't want to earn praise and acknowledgement from their parent?

* * *

Barely a moon into the teaching, a man came to Chara's doorstep. He said that her father had to leave at once - the monsters were coming.

Chara was confused. The monsters? But they were peaceful. They did not bother the humans and the humans did not bother the monsters - there was no conflict between them.

But there was. Chara eventually learned that the queen of the monsters had a sister. There was a disagreement between the monsters and the humans. It turned into a misunderstanding, and then quickly turned into a full-blown fight. Somehow, the queen's sister was killed in the process. The monsters took this as a declaration of war, and began to attack the humans. The humans retaliated.

Chara's father left to fight in the war. _Surely he doesn't know why he's fighting_ , Chara tried to reassure herself. _Otherwise he wouldn't be. He would have understood the disagreement and tried to resolve it, not make it worse._

But her father knew very well the context of the situation. And still, he left for war.

However, before he departed, he said to Chara: "I'll be back. Don't even _think_ about forgetting what I taught you, else I'll have to retell all of my _points_."

Chara chuckled, both at her father's joke and her mother's look of confusion. And then her father left.

That was the last time she ever saw him.

* * *

"Chara? I made you some golden flower tea... Chara?"

Chara sighed loudly. She got out of bed and trudged across her room, ignoring the freezing wooden floor on her bare soles. Swinging open her door, Mother was revealed, doing her best to smile as sweetly as possible. _Happy as ever, I see_ , Chara thought venomously.

"I don't want any tea, Mother," she said with just a hint of maliciousness. "Just leave me alone." Seeing Mother's look of worry, she added, " _Please,_ " this time not so subtle about her irritability.

Mother reluctantly departed, and Chara was once again left alone in her room. She went back to her bed and sat down, head in her hands. _God, why. Why did you do this to me?_

She looked up for a second and glanced at her night table. Sighing once more, this time out of fatigue, she pulled open her drawer and retrieved her knife. _Still as sharp as ever, I see_ , Chara thought lovingly. She paused.

 _I need a break._

She rose and left her room, still holding her knife. She spotted her mother in the entrance room, and managed to slip past unnoticed, knowing that Mother would lock her in her room if she knew of her plans. Having safely made it to the back door, Chara sprinted out of the house and away from the village, into the woods where she could finally be at peace.

* * *

It wasn't working. She kept driving her knife into the tree, but seeing the bark split just wasn't enough satisfaction. Chara finally gave up, throwing the weapon onto the ground in frustration. She was about to walk away, when something caught her eye. Her knife, which had landed next to a boulder, had blood on it.

 _What...?_

Chara looked down and realized she had cut herself during her rampage. She stared at the wound blankly. She then glanced back at the knife and went to pick it up. She sat on the boulder and stared at her weapon.

 _..._

"Bloodstone," she decided to name him.

* * *

 _Chapter Four is in the works._

 _\- Emerald Shine_


	5. Chapter 4: Him

_This is a short chapter, but I really like it. Plus, I really wanted to get another chapter out, and I think that what's going to come next is worthy of its own chapter in the story. Anyway, enjoy Chapter Four!_

 **Chara**

 **Chapter 4**

A soft voice murmured in the darkness: "It sounds like it came from over here..."

Chara heard footsteps.

"Oh! You've fallen down, haven't you..." The voice was concerned now.

Chara felt someone gently nudging her into consciousness. Her eyes slowly opened and she saw a blurry white figure kneeling in front of her. The figure slowly came into focus, and Chara realized that it was a monster. But it wasn't a grown one. It was just a child. A child wearing a sweater very similar to hers...

"Are you okay?"

And a child who apparently cared for her well-being.

Chara groaned. "What do _you_ think?" the fallen human asked with a hoarse voice. _Oh,_ Jesus _, my throat hurts. How long have I been down here?_

The monster child looked a little bit hurt by Chara's blunt sarcasm.

 _Why did his expression look so familiar...?_

But the child was quick to brush off the brash comment. "Here, get up..."

Chara was pulled up from the ground as the monster child put his arm around her neck and let her lean on him. The human was thankful for his aid, though she found it bizarre that this monster child was helping a strange human who had fallen probably hundreds of feet down a chasm and collapsed for God knows how long at the bottom. His weird kindness reminded her of someone...

But enough of that. He didn't even know who she was.

"...M-My name's..Chara," the girl struggled to get out.

The monster smiled. "Chara, huh? That's a nice name. My name is Asriel. Asriel Dreemurr."

"Oh. That's nice," Chara replied. "Wait. D-Dreemurr as in Toriel...Dreemurr? And...Asgore Dreemurr?"

"Oh, so you've heard of my parents. Not surprising," Asriel said in a tired voice, as if he heard this every day. He began to lead Chara across the grass clearing they were in as he spoke: "Most humans know what happened between us and them. Uh...do you?"

Chara hesitated, memories of her father flooding back. But she answered, "Yes."

Asriel...chuckled?

"Okay, good. I wasn't really looking forward to explaining and reliving the war."

Oh. _I can relate_ , Chara thought bitterly.

The columns ringing the pasture seemed to go up and up forever. But she could still see the light, the opening far above her... So...far above...

Chara felt herself tilt backward, and suddenly there was something hard slamming against her back. She heard Asriel shout something, but she couldn't make it out: it seemed like he was yelling from a distance. Everything became blurry, and as Asriel blocked the light from her view, the blurriness soon faded to black.

* * *

 _Chapter Five is in the works! It probably won't be out soon, but you won't be disappointed once it is!_

 _\- Emerald Shine_


End file.
